Taking the Initiative [Dark]

[Dark]

With the canoe righted it was easy enough to nudge the vessel towards the shore; it would be easier to start again from dry land, and they'd probably just flip the boat over if they tried to crawl back in from the water. She almost sobbed with relief when her paws dragged against the bottom, and she shoved the boat towards shore with renewed enthusiasm. She made sure to push it up well above the waterline before she collapsed, sides heaving from exertion and the last remnants of panic.

Land land land.

Feeling very much alive, she kissed the ground in gratitude.

"So, let's not repeat that. Can we walk now? I feel as if walking is good. Dirt is good. Not-water is better. That thing is a death trap. And look at these worthless, flea-bitten mongrels. What good are they? They watched us drown! And we lost all our bags. Again. We'll have to eat them to stave off starvation. And I won't feel bad about it, because they're worthless. I'm feeling the first stirrings of hunger now, in fact--"

Monty bit her.

"Do you see what I mean?"

[Bee]

Mnem looked at her companion like she had gone completely batshit insane all of a sudden--which was appropriate, because she definitely had.

"Minh," she said, calmly, "we are cooking neither Monty nor the Tove. Evil taints Monty's flesh and makes it inedible. The Tove is probably poisonous or something."

She looked at their canoe. In these calm waters, she was still half convinced that it was probably the fastest way to get the hell out of here; on the other hand, they really weren't having much luck with water, what with the mad marlin and their boat capsizing, and Minh looked to be on the verge of gnawing her own leg off and beating herself with it while dancing around a campfire while dancing crazily. That would be a very sad thing to come to pass. Even sadder was the thought that Mnem might have to join her.

[Kiki]

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[Dark]

Sanity was a slow thing coming, and considering Minh had never been sane to begin with, the process wasn't overly successful. Minutes ticked by, the mud in her fur began to flake and itch, and she became aware of the grit in her teeth; while she still thought it would be in the best interest of everyone to barbecue their worthless pets, she felt much more in control of herself. Some semblance of coherency returned, and with it, the resolve to conquer.

"Alright, then." She climbed to her feet, rolling her shoulders to work out the knots, and did her best to shake off the grime clinging to her fur. Feeling brave, she splashed off what what left in the shallows.

"You want to take the river; we'll take the river," Minh smiled grimly at the double-meaning, and turned her brain to plotting. "Okay. This is what we'll need--"

[Bee]

Through some miraculous feat of engineering (combined with considerable effort and a lot of cursing), they were able to rig up something like a sail, which was going to be a massive help in propulsion. They put Monty on the front of the boat like a little ship ornament and told hir to keep a damn sharp eye out for anything that could even potentially construed as dangerous, otherwise they were going to hook hir to the end of a fishing line and use hir as bait to catch another gigantic fucking marlin.

Monty seemed to sense that they were just far enough past reasonable thought to actually do this, and perched obediently where told, freakishly blue eyes scanning the water ahead with the kind of vigilance s/he usually reserved solely for prey.

And finally, finally, they were on their way. Mnem could picture the sweet non-Range scenery already.

[Dark]

Minh was more than pleased with herself as she surveyed the modifications that had been made to the canoe. The counterbalance was probably her best idea--they were lighter on the water, but the weight was more distributed, and the possibility of tipping the rig at this point was absolutely nil. With the sail they were skimming the water, and making very good time of it.

Monty had taken up point at the bow, snapping at the spray being kicked up. Belail was content to curl up on the packs and nap. Minh was still thinking about roasting them, but the desire had cooled in the process of rebuilding the canoe. Luckily enough for them.

She adjusted the rigging, and leaned back, "Well, this is going well for once. Am I brilliant or what?" She'd probably just jinxed them, but whatever.

"It's actually kind of pleasant like this."

[Bee]

Mnem, who did not believe in inflating anyone's ego but her own, made non-committal noises at Minh's rhetorical question, and more at her assertion of pleasantness. The calm was lovely, and Minh's idea for boat repair had been good, but she was in the mood to quietly enjoy their moments of peace. The water was very clear. Mountain run-off. Cold as hell, she knew from experience, but quite pretty. She stared at it over the side of the boat, the edge a mildly uncomfortable rest for her chin and arms.

There were even little fish swimming around, catfish, following the movement of the boat like curious children stalking a stray animal. Mnem watched their progress with distant, dull interest. She was already spacing out, drifting into the comfortable unaware state that immediately precedes a nap. If she were lucky, she would wake up in the Marsh.

[Dark]

It was a pleasant day, barring the earlier boating incident, and Minh had settled rather happily into the prow of the boat to soak up the afternoon sun. It was the optimum temperature for napping, a mild breeze keeping the edge off the heat, and in no time at all Minh was drifting off into a content oblivion somewhere between waking and sleeping. She could hear the water lapping at the boat, and feel the sun through her eyelids; a rasping noise, like a boat being dragged on sand, woke her. Had the boat beached itself?

The boat rocked as she shifted to look, and she blinked in confusion at still being in the current. Monty didn't look worried, and Minh couldn't help but wonder if she had imagined it. It could have always been a submerged log or something of that nature.

Still groggy, she snaked an arm over the rail and splashed some water in her face. Her eyes cleared.

"CATFISH."

[Bee]

Mnem was riled suddenly from her light nap by the intrusion of Minh's voice. Her initial reaction was to reach over and slap her friend silly for committing the cardinal sin of waking her; the second was to calm herself and slit her eyes open into a death glare.

"Yes, Minh. Water is typically inhabited by fish. It's just one of those things."

The catfish were harmless. Probably the first things they had encountered thus far that were actually, really harmless. She didn't need to be jerked out of a nap for this. Not even Monty was concerned, and s/he was usually the first to freak out about anything and rip its guts out. She waved a hand over the water in a bored fashion. "See, Minh? They haven't tried to eat us or call forth an army of darkness or anything. Go back to sleep."

[Dark]

Minh watched the giant orange and white splotched catfish slide by in the water below the boat. She supposed they weren't technically catfish, considering the unusual coloring--which rather strongly suggested koi somewhere back alone the lineage; catfish were generally muted grays and browns, and rather ugly--but besides that, the body of it look like a catfish. She wondered rather hysterically if she might find a smaller one to catch and experiment on.

Mnem didn't seemed bothered by them, though, and the catfish didn't seem aggressive. They just seemed curious; whatever she had felt brush against the boat had probably just been one of the fish swimming a little too close in its investigation. Of course, aggressive or not, there was always the chance one of them would get too eager and actually manage to capsize them. The boat had gained a lot of stability after Minh's renovations, but she really didn't want to test it against a koi-catfish.

She sat back to watch them in uneasy silence.